Scotland beat Nepal in ICC World Cup qualifier

Queenstown: Scotland registered a comfortable 90-run win over Nepal in a Group A match of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier New Zealand 2014 (CWCQ) at Queenstown Events Centre here Thursday.

Scotland bounced back from their loss to Hong Kong Monday to post a competitive total of 249 for seven, with the top order contributing runs. Man of the Match Freddie Coleman (64 not out from 67 balls) put on a 46-run fifth wicket partnership with Preston Mommsen (35), while lower order batsman Safyaan Sharif struck three boundaries in an unbeaten knock of 25 off 17 balls to add quick runs at the end of the innings. Sompal Kami was the pick of the Nepal bowlers (three for 35), while Sagar Pun took two for 38. Nepal`s run chase never got off the ground after opener Pun was dismissed off the first ball. Gyanendra Malla (34) and Sharad Vesawkar (30) were the main contributors with the bat, posting patient totals while wickets fell around them. Nepal’s last three wickets fell for 18 runs in five overs, and the side was dismissed for 159 in 46.1 overs. Twenty-three-year-old Coleman was pleased that his team was able to bounce back from its earlier loss to record such a decisive victory. "It was a pretty tough start for us (against Hong Kong) and we were obviously pretty disappointed with that result, but it was important for us today that we came out and got ourselves rolling and got a good win under our belt and we did that so now we are up and running." Reflecting on his own performance, he said: "It was nice to get some runs and we got off to a good start, but it was quite tricky during the middle overs with the spinners. The pitch has been played on a bit so it is a bit slow which made it difficult to hit the ball into the gaps, but it was nice to kind of hold my patience a little bit and score a few at the end." Brief Scores: Scotland 249 for seven in 50 overs (Freddie Coleman 64 not out, Calum MacLeod 46, Matt Machan 37, Preston Mommsen 35; Sompal Kami 3-35, Sagar Pun 2-38) vs Nepal 159 all out in 46.1 overs (Gyanendra Malla 34, Sharad Vesawkar 30; Iain Wardlaw 3-32, Majid Haq 2-24, Rob Taylor 2-27).